BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams hit the road for the second straight week as they travel to Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday to compete in the 28th-annual Sun Angel Classic at Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium.
The meet is scheduled to get underway tonight at 7:30 p.m. CDT with the men’s and women’s hammer throw as it is the only event of the evening. Saturday’s action kicks off in the field at 3:30 p.m. followed by the evening’s first running events at 7 p.m.
LSU is coming off of a pair of outstanding performances at the 80th Texas Relays last weekend as the Lady Tigers hold their position as the consensus No. 2 team in the nation, while the Tigers enter the Sun Angel Classic ranked as high as No. 9 in the country in this week’s Coaches’ Poll.
The squads are set to compete in an impressive field of 23 collegiate teams featuring the top-ranked women and seventh-ranked men from Arizona State, as well as second-ranked Auburn on the men’s side and No. 8 Auburn, No. 19 Florida and No. 22 Colorado on the women’s side.
“We’re looking forward to getting back on the track this weekend at a great event like the Sun Angel Classic,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “This will give us a chance to pick up a few more regional qualifiers, and there are several athletes who have a great opportunity to improve their performance on the national list.”
Among those Shaver is looking to qualify for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships are senior Melville Rogers and junior Reggie Dardar in the 400-meter dash, as well as junior Reuben Twijukye, freshman Jamaal James and freshman LaTavia Thomas in the 800-meter run.
Dardar, who is the reigning SEC indoor champion in the quarter mile, is working his way back into form after suffering a slight hamstring injury in practice before the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. He has seen action in only one meet during the outdoor season at the LSU Tiger Classic on March 31.
LSU will line up in the 800 meters for the first time during the outdoor season as both James and Thomas are the reigning SEC indoor champions in the event. James also earned All-America honors in his first appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a fifth-place finish at the national meet.
In the field events, sophomore Jeremy Hicks and freshman Will Coppage are set to make their outdoor season debut in the triple jump, while freshman Preston Chatham (javelin), junior Kathy Coleman (triple jump), junior Andrea Linton (triple jump) and sophomore Amanda Harmata (javelin) look to improve existing regional qualifying marks.
In addition, Shaver will tinker with the lineups in both sprint relays as sophomore Jeremy Hicks will replace fellow sophomore Trindon Holliday on the lead leg of the men’s 4×100-meter relay team, while junior Jessica Ohanaja is also set to run the leadoff leg on the women’s foursome.
Will Coppage will take the stick from Hicks with Marvin Stevenson and Richard Thompson running the third and anchor legs, respectively. Sherry Fletcher moves from the leadoff to the second leg on the women’s foursome with Brooklynn Morris running third and Samantha Henry anchoring the squad for the first time.
“We’re using this weekend as an opportunity to expand on all of our options on the sprint relays,” Shaver said. “Jeremy is going to leadoff instead of Trindon because I don’t want to overwork him this early, and we’re also looking to see what the women can do with Jessica running the anchor.”
The squads will return to Baton Rouge next weekend as they play host to the LSU Alumni Gold on April 21 at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium followed by a trip to Philadelphia to compete in the 113th running of the prestigious Penn Relays at Franklin Field from April 26-28.